Getting ready for my one and only craft fair this season

I am just attending one craft fair this holiday season as a seller. I chose a local school that is putting on the fair. I had a great time at that fair last year and made over $75 in just the first hour, I thought I would return. It will give me a chance to meet people and make some Christmas spending money.

My daughter normally does not join me on my craft fair ventures but this time she will be helping me out. I promised her 50% of the profits for the day. One of the main reasons I asked her to join me is because she is more of an extrovert than I am. She has a natural infinity for sales. She loves to show off and attract attention which will bring over the customers.

I will be taking my embroidery machine and doing custom work on the spot. I have several Christmas stockings left over from last year and lots of t-shirts to take. I might even do some scarfs with the local college football teams' colors.

A turkey hat

This is a Sponsored Post written by me on behalf of Jones Soda. All opinions are 100% mine.

Above is a picture of my daughter posing with her new turkey hat. The hat was a free thank you gift from IZEA, a company I have done a couple of sewing related posts for. They had emailed me a week ago asking me if I would like to get the hat along with a bottle of Jones soda. My daughter happened to be with me at the time when I was looking at a picture of the hat and said she wanted it. To be honest with you I had no intention of getting the hat or the soda but my daughter changed my mind.

Today the packaged arrived and I surprised my daughter with the hat when she got home from school. She loved it. In the box with the soda and hat was an offer to write a post with my reaction to the free gift. At first I thought no, but then my business side took over and I realized that someone not only had to design and sew the original hat but is probably making out like a bandit selling these things to IZEA. Of course IZEA is also having their logo embroidered on the front. An embroidery company got that job. Top that with the fact it looks goofy enough to be loved by my very picky daughter.

The soda will be heading to school with my daughter as she wants to give all of her friends a sip of the Tofurky and Gravy Jones Soda . She has tasted Jones' broccoli flavored soda and the one word she used was - yuck. She wants to see her friends reaction to this soda. She has tasted the Jones soda called Sweet Victory and loves that one so she is not unfamiliar with Jones.

I would again like to thank IZEA for the free stuff, It made a stir at our house today.

Lisa Lichtenfels and her works of art

The photo to the left is NOT Lisa but one of her works of art. It may look like a little old bag lady, but in reality is a fabric sculpture made from nylon stockings with a wood frame. Lisa lives in Massachusetts, where she works on her creations. She use to work for Disney many years ago doing stop action animation. It was there that she became fascinated with sculpture work.

You can find more of her full sized works of art and more about Lisa Lichtenfels at her website.

Lisa Lichtenfels' website

Lisa has also written several how-to books on her works you can find them here.

On that same page you can also find her full color book that showcases her work. The book is called "Figures in  Fabric." It goes to show you that fabric and sewing is not just for clothing, bedding, curtains or towels, it is for art as well.

 

Free Dachshund for you to make

Can you imagine the looks on your friends and family's faces when you show them you made this Dachshund? I bet it would look good under the Christmas tree this year too. This little guy can be either hand or machine sewn and best yet all the instructions are free. Here is the link where you can get the pattern and a really good step by step how-to photos on putting this guy together.

How to personalize items the fast and easy way

When you think of having a fabric item personalized you think of custom embroidery. That is only one way to personalize an item. Another way is to use fabric paints or applique to add that personal touch. Of course personalization is what will sell your items faster than lighting. Anything that you can put a person's or pet's name on will sell fast. Doing something as simple as adding a monogram to a set of towels or a name to a golf towel will not only enhance your profit line but will increase you customer base almost overnight.

Of course if you do decide to try your hand at personalization you will want to be able to have the right tools available to do the job. One of the most popular tools for cutting out letters for applique' work is with a Cricut. Yes you can cut fabric with a Cricut. All you have to do is use the Cricut to cut out your shapes then sew them on to your item. If you are unsure what a Cricut is or need some guidance on how to use it to cut fabric, I have found this handy video to show you how. You can also follow all the highlighted links for Cricut to buy one or its accessories.



Before you run out and get a Cricut you should know there are other machines out there that do the same thing. There is the Sizzix, (a video demo about the Sizzix is below) as well as others on the market.



So now you have no excuse not to personalize your items.

Time for a free machine embroidery patttern

Do you love a Celtic Christmas? If you do here is a link to the pattern pictured above. You just need to scroll down the page to locate the free download for it. Enjoy.

Celtic embroidery pattern

Black Friday is starting early

Those wonderful Black Friday sales seem to have started already for us sewing enthusiasts. This morning I got my email newsletter from AllBrands.com announcing their early Black Friday sale. They have Janome sewing machines on sale that are buy one get one free! Lots of home embroidery machines on sale too. It looks like this year there might be more people taking up sewing with the prices coming down to a reasonable level for equipment. That also means there will be an increase in demand for sewing teachers and other support for those new hobbyists. This coming year looks like everything will be improving.

Getting ready for Christmas

Have you started to get ready for Christmas yet? Are you planning on making items for a fund raiser or your own craft booth? Do you have several people on your gift list that you will be making gifts for?

I know lots of questions. Personally I will be starting to get a few items ready for an up coming craft fair. I made about $160 last year at that craft fair in under 2 hours, so I am planning on attending the same event again this year. I had a few funny t shirts on display, along with a few trinkets but what made me the money was making personalized Christmas stockings for pets.

I had the t-shirts set up on a tabletop mannequin so that got peoples' attention. I had my embroidery machine set up with stockings in front of it, ready to machine embroider their pets' names on them.

The stockings I got at the Dollar Tree store and they sew beautifully. I sold them for $12 each. It only took the machine about 3 minutes to sew out the names and about 5 minutes to set them up and then trim the threads. I was also the only table to have a line except for the guy doing the temporary tattoos a few tables away. It was showing me that people want personalization and service and they were willing to pay for it.